Kamaru Usman def. Tyron Woodley at UFC 235: Best photos

After UFC president Dana White promised that former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington is next in line, it appears there may be some complications on Covington’s side. It was reported by ESPN that the UFC then diverted its attention to Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, but couldn’t agree to terms with Usman.

Then we ended up with the “BMF” main event fight between Nate Diaz and Masvidal at UFC 244, which cleared the way, even if just a little, for Woodley.

Woodley (19-4-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) lost his 170-pound title to Usman at UFC 235 by unanimous decision and wants to run things back. He commented on the Diaz vs. Masvidal post of ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, throwing his name in the title contention mix.

“Since Colby’s being an (expletive) per usual! @usman84kg what you say we run this back! If any thing is “#supernecessary” it’s this!”

It appears Woodley is ready to come back, and he wants his belt back. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Roufusport’s Duke Roufus, one of his main coaches, said he believes Woodley is nearing a return.

And he expects the best version of him yet.

“He’s still got a lot to accomplish inside the octagon – it’s just going to come down to timing, the matchup,” Roufus said. “I think he’s almost at that point where he’s going to be calling me like, ‘Coach, we’ve got to do this.’

“Most of the fights he’s fought, he’s been injured. He’s done a great job of soldiering through a lot of injuries. He hurt his foot bad in the Kelvin Gastelum fight, hurt his hand in the (Darren) Till fight, hurt his shoulder in the Demian Maia fight. He’s had three catastrophic injuries and still kept fighting. These are accomplishments we had while he was injured. Imagine what he can do with a fully rested and recuperated Tyron Woodley.”